In 1982,  Edward Cardinal Egan was one of six canonists who reviewed the new Code of Canon Law with His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, before its promulgation in 1983.  Cardinal Egan, originally from Chicago, completed his seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City and was ordained in 1957.  In 1958, he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.  In 1964, he earned a doctorate in Canon Law Summa Cum Laude from the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1971 to 1985 he served in Rome as a judge of the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota.  He was also a professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

It is hard to argue with Cardinal Egan's authoritative qualifications to explain canon law.  He both helped write it in 1983, and he served on the equivalent of the Supreme Court for the Catholic Church for fourteen years.  Any representatives of the Church, who believes one should get an annulment for far-reaching psychological reasons is contradicting Cardinal Egan.